This invention relates to disinfecting and cleaning compositions, and more particularly, to antimicrobial compositions for disinfecting, sanitizing or cleaning porous and non-porous surfaces including plastic, metal, fabric, wood, leather and skin.
It is now well recognized that many contagious diseases are transmitted by touching unsanitized surfaces, and that disease causing germs are able to survive on some surfaces for up to five weeks. Surfaces of concern include counters and other food preparation areas, bathroom fixtures, and toys and other surfaces accessible to children in daycare facilities, as children tend to share toys and spread germs on a seemingly continuous basis. The prevention of disease is much more effective than treatment. There is therefore a need for products which safely control germs on surfaces.
A number of products have been developed for the purpose of disinfecting and cleaning various surfaces. Many of these products use toxic, poisonous chemicals. Every year, hundreds of thousands of children are accidentally poisoned by toxic products. Some of these products are difficult and inconvenient to use. Others must be wiped off by a cloth, and cloths are sometimes often a source of more germs than those originally on the surface. There is accordingly a growing need for more natural and less toxic disinfectants.
Essential oils, i.e. volatile oils distilled or extracted from plants, are natural products known to have antimicrobial properties, and attempts have been made to formulate disinfectant solutions based upon essential oils. However, because of their hydrophobic nature, essential oils are not readily miscible in water. As a result, essential oils are often difficult to prepare in a form that will allow them to be readily incorporated into an aqueous solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,587 to McCue et al. discloses an antimicrobial composition that utilizes both a solvent and a surfactant to facilitate the formation of a homogeneous aqueous mixture of an essential oil. Although this disinfectant composition is more natural than some, it requires relatively high concentrations of a solvent and synthetic surfactant, and its efficacy is open to question. There is accordingly a need for an environmentally friendly, biodegradable, non-toxic and completely natural germicidal solution capable of being sold as a consumer product to sanitize, disinfect and clean a variety of surfaces, particularly food contact surfaces.
The present invention is directed to an aqueous antimicrobial composition for disinfecting, sanitizing or cleaning surfaces, comprising a mixture of essential oils exhibiting antimicrobial properties in a water carrier, and a solvent sufficient to form an aqueous mixture of the essential oils in the water carrier. The mixture of essential oils comprises thyme, lemongrass, clove and eucalyptus. The composition may also include a biosurfactant such as BOD or Tween-80.
The present invention is also directed to an antimicrobial composition comprising at least one essential oil exhibiting antimicrobial properties in a water carrier, a solvent, and about 1 to 1000 ppm of an ionizing agent. The ionizing agent is preferably selected from the group comprising copper sulfate, cupric carbonate and silver colloidal. Most preferably the ionizing agent is a naturally occurring ionizing agent such as Blue Stone ions.
The present invention provides for a novel and completely natural composition which exhibits disinfectant properties and eliminates or significantly reduces harmful microorganisms on surfaces to which the composition is applied. The subject composition has a neutral pH, is non-toxic and does not effect the skin, eyes, lungs or coloration of products being cleaned.
The features and advantages of composition of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The disinfectant composition of the present invention is an all-natural, non-toxic, antimicrobial composition which may be sprayed on various surfaces to eliminate microorganisms. The composition comprises about 0.5 to 10% by volume of a mixture of essential oils capable of being dissolved or dispersed in a water carrier and exhibiting antimicrobial properties in the water carrier, and about 2 to 12% by volume of a solvent sufficient to form an aqueous solution of said essential oils in a water carrier. In a preferred embodiment, the mixture of essential oils comprises thyme, lemongrass, clove and eucalyptus.
The composition of the present invention preferably comprises about 2% to 7% by volume of the mixture of essential oils, and about 2 to 3.25% by volume of an organic solvent. The organic solvent aids in the dispersion of the essential oils into the water carrier, and increases the volatilization rate of the solution. Water is included as a carrier in a sufficient amount to make a final composition of 100% by volume. The pH of the formulation contemplated by this invention is about 6.5 to 7.5.
In one preferred embodiment, the composition of the subject invention comprises about 3% by volume of the mixture of essential oils and 2% by volume of a solvent. The solvent is preferably an organic solvent such as 95% pure grain ethyl alcohol, although other non-toxic solvents such as hexadecane, n-propanol and ethyl acetate, could be used. In this embodiment, the composition comprises about 0.50% by volume of thyme, about 0.50% by volume of lemongrass, about 1.3% by volume of clove, and about 0.75% by volume of eucalyptus. It has been found that this particular mixture of essential oils exhibits unexpectedly good disinfectant (i.e. antimicrobial) properties, once dissolved or dispersed by a solvent in the water carrier, against an unusually broad spectrum of microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, spores and protozoan parasites. The composition is stable, is effective against microorganisms, and the microorganisms do not develop resistance to the formulation over time.
The composition may also include a small amount, preferably about 0.05 to 0.5% by volume, of a non-toxic biosurfactant such as BOD(trademark) or Tween-80(trademark). The biosurfactant acts to help solubilize and disperse the essential oils in the water carrier.
In another preferred embodiment, the composition comprises a small amount of an ionizable agent such as copper sulfate, which is sold as Blue Stone(trademark) ions. It has been found that a very small addition of Blue Stone ions (e.g. 10-100 ppm) produces a dramatic synergistic effect in the efficiency of the essential oil formulation. It is believed that these ions reintroduce naturally occurring groundwater ions absent from pure USP grade water, which speed up the anti microbial activity of the essential oils. Alternative ionizable agent include cupric carbonate and silver colloidal.
The composition of the invention may be formulated to be dispersed from a ready-to-use dispenser system. Due to its natural and non-toxic composition, the solution does not need to be wiped off. The resulting longer contact with the surface area bearing the microorganisms ensures a higher killing rate and continuous germ control for hours. The subject composition is also non-corrosive and biodegradable.
The composition of the present invention can be prepared by the traditional methods known to one skilled in the art. For example, the composition can be constituted by preparing an aqueous mixture of a solvent such as ethanol with essential oils. The composition is then agitated or mixed until a homogeneous solution of essential oils is generated.
The subject composition can be packaged as a ready-to-use dispenser system. The liquid solution can be dispelled from a trigger pump spray bottle and squeeze bottle or pump spray bottle to produce a spray. The composition can also be incorporated into a towelette form or a gel carrier which can then be used to treat a variety of surfaces. The towelettes can be packaged individually or in bulk for individual distribution.